Implications of the U.S. Farm Act on Canadian Agriculture

This paper addresses the implications of the U.S. Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 or "Farm Act" for Canadian agriculture. The Farm Act, which is expected to add at least US $45 billion in new price supports over its six-year timeframe, is expected to harm the position of less-subsidized and non-subsidized producers in Canada and other countries. Canadian farm products will be less competitive not only domestically, but also in the U.S. and in third-country markets. Canada will be most affected by subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat, and pulse crops. New country-of-origin labeling rules under the Farm Act are also expected to be disruptive to Canadian livestock exports. In addressing these issues the paper also explores potential Canadian responses - including filing WTO or NAFTA complaints - as well as the broader implications for U.S.-Canada trade and international cooperation.U.S. Farm Bill, U.S.-Canada trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Bioinformatics Needs Assessment

An assessment of the Bioinformatics Program at MIT Libraries was conducted using quantitative and qualitative data collection methods during FY13-14. Interviews were conducted to gain insight about bioinformatics researcher’s needs and behaviors and insight about the bioinformatics support offered by the MIT Libraries. Data was collected from various services of the bioinformatics program as well as from other library services. The assessment found that the bioinformatics community is interdisciplinary and crosses traditional life science departmental boundaries. The bioinformatics community takes a collaborative do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to computational skills and analytical tools –if they don’t know something or have something to use, they find someone who does or they build it themselves. Themes from the assessment emerged such as computational skills, tools, data, instruction and interdisciplinarity. The bioinformatics community has a desire for computational skills and modular training. The MIT Libraries bioinformatics training sessions are well attended; training sessions taught by experts are popular. Recommendations for the Bioinformatics Program at MIT Libraries include being more aware of open source software tools used by the community, attempting to expand the use of commercial tools in courses, and expanding outreach and advocacy regarding bioinformatics to the entire MIT community

Lattice-Driven Magnetoresistivity and Metal-Insulator Transition in Single-Layered Iridates

Sr2IrO4 exhibits a novel insulating state driven by spin-orbit interactions. We report two novel phenomena, namely a large magnetoresistivity in Sr2IrO4 that is extremely sensitive to the orientation of magnetic field but exhibits no apparent correlation with the magnetization, and a robust metallic state that is induced by dilute electron (La3+) or hole (K+) doping for Sr2+ ions in Sr2IrO4. Our structural, transport and magnetic data reveal that a strong spin-orbit interaction alters the balance between the competing energies so profoundly that (1) the spin degree of freedom alone is no longer a dominant force; (2) underlying transport properties delicately hinge on the Ir-O-Ir bond angle via a strong magnetoelastic coupling; and (3) a highly insulating state in Sr2IrO4 is proximate to a metallic state, and the transition is governed by lattice distortions. This work suggests that a novel class of lattice-driven electronic materials can be developed for applications.Comment: 4 figure

Violinists, demandingness, and the impairment argument against abortion

The ‘impairment argument’ against abortion developed by Perry Hendricks aims to derive the wrongness of abortion from the wrongness of causing foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Hendricks endorses an ‘impairment principle’, which states that, if it is wrong to inflict an impairment of a certain degree on an organism, then, ceteris paribus, it is also wrong to inflict a more severe impairment on that organism. Causing FAS is wrong in virtue of the impairment it inflicts. But abortion inflicts an even more severe impairment (death), and so, ceteris paribus, is also wrong. Notably, Hendricks thinks that this argument does not require the claim that the foetus is a person. Here, I respond to Hendricks by arguing that the ceteris paribus clause of the impairment principle is not met in ordinary cases of pregnancy. Carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term is much more burdensome than is refraining from excessive drinking for nine months. This provides a pro tanto justification for obtaining an abortion that does not apply to causing FAS. If the foetus is not a person, it seems fairly clear to me that this justification is strong enough to render abortion permissible. Hendricks is therefore incorrect in claiming that the impairment argument can go without claims concerning foetal personhood. If the foetus is a person, then whether burdensomeness justifies abortion depends on certain questions relating to Thomson’s famous violinist argument. I will not attempt to answer those. But anyone who is otherwise sympathetic to Thomson’s argument should not be moved by the impairment argument

Humans, Elves, and Greenland Sharks: Against Kagan’s Distributive Argument for Hierarchical Moral Status

Shelly Kagan argues that “unitarianism,” the claim that animals and humans have equal moral status, has intuitively implausible distributive implications. I argue that Kagan’s reasoning can, with certain modifications, be applied equally well to undermine his own view, and that the responses Kagan can make to this modified reasoning are also available to the unitarian responding to Kagan’s original argument. Accordingly, Kagan cannot consistently hold his own view while also endorsing his main against unitarianism